Synchronous drive



June 3, 1952 NEEsE 2,598,820

SYNCHRONOUS DRIVE Filed Nov. 29, 1949 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Q I EHZLU June 3, 1952 A. A. NEESE 2,598,820

SYNCHRONOUS DRIVE Filed Nov. 29, 1949 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 [n VE'H L UT" CAZZOZZZM Yea-5e E5 m KZM June 3, 1952 A. A. NEESE 2,598,820

SYNCHRONOUS DRIVE Filed Nov. 29, 1949 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 [27 VEHZUF 95101 2002 Neese June 3, 1952 A. A. NEESE 2,598,820

SYNCHRONOUS DRIVE Filed Nov. 29, 1949 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 1.7 1 E VAR: I 1, mm

95 06ft 0122M N5e 5 6% 7%MHLL 5 Patented June 3, 1952 SYNCI-IRONOUS DRIVE Alonzo A. Neese, Beloit, Wis., assignor to Beloit Iron Works, Beloit, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin ApplicationNovember 29, 1949, SerialNo. 130,058

This invention relates to a drive capable of alternate acceleration and deceleration even at high rates of speeds without requiring corresponding alternate surges of power input and, inertia braking.

Specifically, this invention deals with a sheet .cutter which can be easily set to have a desired speed at the instant of cutting and a mean speed which is independent of the instantaneous cutting speed wherein power-absorbing and releasing mechanism will neutralize variations in power requirements due to the variations in mean and instantaneous speeds.

In cutters for traveling web material such as paper, it is desirable to move the cutting knives at the same speed at which the web is traveling, so that, at the instant of cut, the knives will not tear or buckle. the traveling web. However, since the knives must be placed in cutting position at the exact instant that a predetermined length of web has passed beyond the knives, in order that the desired sheet length will be severed from the web, the required speed of travel of the knives between cutting operations may bear no relation whatsoever to the desired instantaneous speed at the time of out. To provide a mechanism which will accommodate different web speeds and will out different sheet lengths, it is necessary that the instantaneous speed at the time of cut and the speed of travel of the cutters between the cutting operations be independent of each other. It is also highly desirable that easily adjustable control means be provided for these independent speed factors. Further, since the variable mean and instantaneous speeds will require acceleration and deceleration of the cutting knives, it is highly desirable that alternate peak power loads and inertia braking loads be avoided.

The present invention now provides a cutter wherein the cutting knives or blades can be easily set to travel at the speed of the web being cut during the cutting operation and then travel at any desired speed between cutting operations so that they will be in position for the next cutting operation after a predetermined length of the web has passed therebeyond. The cutters of this invention are adapted to be quickly set to accommodate a wide range of web traveling speeds and to out sheets of any desirable lengths. The cutters of this invention are driven by a synchronous drive mechanism which is so balanced that a constant power input can be used. The neutraliz'ation of power surges and inertia braking is accomplished through the use of a non-circular conjugate gear train and a flywheel driven by 1 Claim. (01. 164-61) vthe gears.

2. The arrangement is such that the flywheel will absorb energy during periods of deceleration of the cutter knives and will then release the absorbed energy during periods of acceleration of the cutter knives.

A feature of the invention includes an easily adjusted differential gear drive which will control the position of the cutter knives relative to the position of the non-circular driving gear so that the instantaneous speed of the cutter knives at the time of out can be accurately set.

A further feature of the invention resides in the provision of asynchronous drive capable of delivering power through repeating-accelerating and decelerating cycles without creating a backlash in the driving connections so that a nonslipping type of speed changer can be directly coupled to the drive assembly.

A further feature of the invention resides in the provision of a multiple cutter drive which will actuate a plurality of units through exactly controlled cutting cycles at independent speeds and still be driven from a single source.

It is, then, an object of this invention to provide a synchronous drive especially useful for web cutters which will deliver rotating power in repeated cycles of alternating acceleration and deceleration without requiring correspondingly alternate power surges and inertia braking on the power input side thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide a synchronous drive wherein a train of elliptical gears has one end gear coupled to a flywheel and another end gear coupled to the pinion gears of a differential unit while anintermediate gear drives the end gears from a constant source of power and causes the alternate acceleration and deceleration of the differential unit and the alternate absorption and release of energy by the flywheel.

A specific object of the invention is to provide a cutter capable of slitting a web of paper into a plurality of ribbons and selectively severing the ribbons into desired sheet lengths while driven from a single source at independent instantaneous and mean speeds.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device for neutralizing variations in power requirements for delivering alternate accelerating and decelerating rotating power.

A further specific object of the invention is to provide a paper cutter adapted to be driven at desired independent instantaneous and mean speed without requiring a prime mover which accelerates and decelerates to accommodate the speed variations.

Other and further objects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the annexed sheets of drawings which, by way of a preferred example only, illustrate one embodiment of the invention. u '1 V r On the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a multiple unit paper cutter and slitter machine of this invention.

Figure 2 is a somewhat diagrammatic elevational view showing the machine of Figure 1 in outline and illustrating the drive for the machine.

Figure 3 is a top plan view, with parts in horizontal cross section, of the drive for the machine of this invention.

Figure 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line VV of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a top plan view, with parts cut away to show underlying parts, of a speed changer used in the drive.

Figure '7 is a transverse cross-sectional view of one set of cutters for the machine of this invention. 7

Figure 8 is a view similar toFigure '7, but showing a different type of anvil for the cutter.

As shown on the drawings: 7

The machine [0 shown in Figure 1 of the drawings is composed of a slitter section II and a multiple cutter section [2. The slitter section II is on a level with the top cutter unit and is mounted on suitable elevated framework I3 carried by uprights M. The multiple cutter machine I2 is mounted on a bed frame support l5.

The cutter section'l 1 includes a feeder or draw roll unit l6 which includes a stationary hearing I! for a bottom roll [8 and a vertical guide l9 forslidably mounting a bearing for a top roll 2|. A hand wheel manipulated screw 22 acts on each bearing 20 for the top roll 2| to compress a spring 23 for loading the top roll inpressure nip relation with 'the bottom roll. A web of paper W is fed through the nip.

Suitable framework 24 on the frame I3 supports a crosswalk 25 adjacent the unit 16 and a sector-measuring device 26 for a purpose to be hereinafter described. j

Framework 21 for a multiple slitter assembly is mounted on the frame 13 adjacent the frame 24. This slitter frame 21 includes bottom bearings 28 and 29 each rotatably supporting a shaft 30 on which are mounted the bottom slitter bands 3| in the proper longitudinal relationship.

Top shafts 32 are rotatably mounted on the frame 21 above the shafts 30 and these shafts carry slitter frames 33 which rotatably support the top slitters 34 which cooperate with the bottom slitter bands 3| to cut the web W into ribbons of the desired width.

Handles 35 are provided on the frames as to swing the frames about the shafts 32 and move the top slitters from the solid line position to the dotted line position.

A sub-frame 36 is mounted in front of the slitter frame 21 and supports a cross walk 31 and a sector member 38 identical with the cross Walk 25 and sector 25. This frame 35 also rotatably carries a guide roll 39.

Only one set of cooperating'slitters 3| and 34 are used at a time, but it should be understood that a plurality of slitters and slitter bands may be mounted along the length of their shafts to cut the web W into any desired number of ribbons. The idle slitter unit has the handle 35 thereof swung to a horizontal position for moving the top slitters 34 to the dotted line positions adjacent their sectors 26 or 38. These sectors have marking indicia thereon Sothatthe top sliders can be set to cut'any desired width when they are lowered. The bottom slitters3l are adjustable longitudinally of their shafts 3i} and these shafts have corresponding marking indicia thereon. Therefore, the idle set of slitters on either the right or left hand sides of the frame 2'! can be set to cut ribbons of the desired width while the other set of slitters is cutting a different type of ribbon arrangement. This double slitter unit therefore makes possible a quick change in slicing the web W without stopping the travel of the web. The ribbons R formed from the web W are directed from the slitter unit 21 over the guide roll 39 to separate draw roll units 40 and 4| of the multiple cutter machine l2. Thus, the top draw unit will receive one ribbon while the bottom draw unit 4| will receive the adjacent ribbon.

Each draw roll unit 40 and 41 includes a frame 42 providing fixed bearings 43 for bottom rolls 44 and guides 45 for slidable bearings 46 which rotatably support top rolls 41. Hand wheel manipulated screw rods 48 are provided on the top of the frames 42 to compress springs 53 acting on the sliding bearings 46 for urging the top rolls 4! into pressure nip relation with the bottom rolls 44.

A vertical stack of gear casings 50 is mounted in front of the draw roll assemblies 40 and 4| at both the front and rear. sides of the cutter machine. These casings rotatablysupport the pairs of coacting revolving knives and anvils for each cutting machine.

A top cutting machine [2a and a bottom cutting machine I2b are thus supported in superimposed relation.

As best shown in Figure 7, eachcutting machine has a top rotating knife unit 5| and a coacting bottom rotating anvil unit 52. The knife unit 5| is composed of a cylinder 53 which is bisected by a blade carrier 54. This carrier 54 has a projecting lip portion 54a, the front face of which receives the cutter blade 55. The blade is secured in position on the lip by means of tightening screws 56 threaded into the lip as shown. I

An adjusting rod 57 extends into the blade support 54 for abutting the inner edge of the blade 55. This rod 51 has a threaded end 51a which is threaded into a sleeve 58. The sleeve 58, in turn, is threaded into the end of the support opposite the end receiving the blade 55. The threaded end 510. of the rod has a head 51?) adapted to be easily engaged ,by a wrench. Rotation of the rod will therefore raise and lower it so that the blade can be accurately adjusted in the holder 54. A plurality of rods 51 are provided along the length of the holder 54.

The anvil 52 of Figure 7 is composed of a cylinder 59 bisected by a support plate which backs up a box-like channel beam 6! extending through one face of the cylinder and having its projecting portion reinforced by ribs 6| a. The channel 61 defines a chamber 62 having a gap or slot 62a along its upper face. An inflated tube53 of rubber or the like resilient material is mounted in the inner end of the chamber 62 and acts on a slidable retainer 64 in the chamber. An anvil tube 65 is seated in the chamber on the retainer 54 and partially projects through the slot or gap 62a to coact with the edge of the blade 55 for severing the leading end of the ribbon R into sheets such as S. The tube 63 provides a cushion for the anvil E5 and the degree of inflation of the tube will determine the degree of resiliency of the cushion.

In place of the rotating anvil 52 of Figure '7, a modified anvil 66 of Figure B can be used for coacting with the blade 55. In this modified arrangement,'a cylinder 61 carrying the box-like channel beam 68 receives a plurality of adjusting rods such as 69 with threaded ends 69a threaded into sleeves I which are threaded into a block H carried by the cylinder 61. The rods 59 project into the channel beam 68 and act on the inner end of a knife I2 for coacting with the knife 55. Screws such as I3 will tighten the knif in position in the beam 63 while a channel beam I4 held in position by screws I backs up the blade '12.

As shown in Figure 1, each pair of cylinders 5| and 52 is geared together by gears I6 in the casings 53. It is preferred to have gears at each end of the cylinders to prevent back lash. The geared together cylinders will thereby rotate in unison to provide the cutter nips for the ribbons B. As best shown in Figures 2 and 3, both the slitter section II and the cutter section I2 of the machine I8 are driven from a main line shaft TI. This shaft drives the first feed rolls or draw rolls I8 and 2| through a belt connection including a driving tapered pulley I8 on the shaft 11, a belt I9, and a reversely tapered pulley 80 receiving the belt and coupled with the bottom roll IS. The tapered pulley arrangement provides an adjustment in relative speed of the shaft and feed rollers.

In the belt drives herein described, single flat belts and pulleys have been shown for purposes of simplicity. However, it should be appreciated that V-belts and multiple grooved pulleys might be preferred.

The bottom slitter bands 3I are driven from their shafts 38 which shafts, in turn, are connected through clutches 8| (Figure 3) with drive shafts 82 suitably carried in bearings. The drive shaft 82 for the first shaft 38 is driven through a belt connection 83 from the shaft 11, while the second shaft 82 is driven from the first shaft 82 by a belt connection 84.

The top draw roll unit 49 is driven from the line shaft 11 through a belt connection 85 while the bottom draw roll unit M is driven from the shaft 'Il through a belt connection 86. Suitable tightener rolls 81 and 88 coact respectively with the belts 85 and 88 to maintain these belts in tight condition. The belt 85 drives a shaft 89 having a clutch 90 therein coupled to the bottom roll 44 of the top draw ro l unit 40. The belt 86 drives a similar shaft and clutch coupled to the bottom roll 44 of the bottom draw roll unit 4 I. Each clutch 90 also drives a gear III which is meshed with a gear 92 on a power input shaft 93 to a speed changer unit 94.

As shown in Figure 6, each speed changer unit 94 has slidable toothed gear or pulley segments 95 on the input shaft 93 driving a band 96 which is also trained around a similar pair of toothed segments 91 keyed to a shaft 98. Levers 99 controlled by a screw rod I 80 from an adjusting handle IIJI regulate the relative spacing of the segments of each pair so that the band 95 will ratio relative to the rate of speed of the input shaft 93. The shaft 98 is geared through a gear train I82 with an output shaft I83. Manipulation of the handle I8I therefore will vary the speed of the output shaft I83 relative to the speed of the input shaft 93.

As shown in Figure 2, superimposed casings I94 and I05 are provided for the gear train and differential units of the synchronous drive of this invention. Each casing houses a train of nonoircular conjugate gears driven from the output shaft of the speed changer 94 for each cutter machine. Since the superimposed synchronous drives are identical, the top drive only of Figures 1 3 to 5 will be described.

As shown in Figure 3, the output shaft I23 of speed changer 94"is coupled to a shaft IE8 which is rotatably mounted in the top casing IE4 on suitable bearings. An elliptical gear III? is secured on the shaft I05 and meshes with elliptical gears I68 and I09 respectively mounted on shafts III] and I II carried by the casing. The shaft III has a fly-wheel II2 mounted thereon in the casing I54. As shown in Figure 4, all three shafts I06, H9, and III are in horizontal alignment and the meshing gears I87, I98, and IE9 are in horizontal alignment. The end gears I I58 and I89 simultaneously mesh with diametrically opposite sides of the center gear I31.

A differential unit I I3 is mounted in the casing I04 adjacent the shaft I It and is driven by this shaft. As best shown in Figure 3, the differential gear unit II3 includes a cage H4 rotatably mounted on bearings H5 in the casing. This cage II4, asbest shown in Figure 5, has gear teeth IIB extending partially therearound and meshing with a worm III on a vertical shaft I I8 projecting through the top of the casing I54 and manipulated by a hand wheel I I9. A gear I29 on the shaft I I8 coacts with a dog I2! on the casing to lock the rod I I8 against rotation.

The cage II3 rotatably carries opposed pinions I22 meshed with mating opposed pinions I23.

it One of the pinions I23 is coupled to the shaft I it.

The opposed pinion I23 is coupled to th input shaft I24 to the top rotary knife unit 5! and to the gears I6 for driving the anvil 52 for this unit.

Since the cage H4 is adapted to be rocked about its axis by manipulation of the hand Wheel II9, the relative positions of the gear I93 and knife on the top knife unit 5| can be changed without uncoupling any of the drive assembly. In normal operation, however, the cage I I4 is locked against movement and the gear I98 will drive the input shaft I24 through the meshed pinions I22 and I23 while all of these pinions are rotating on fixed axes. Rocking of the carriage I I4, in changing the positions for the axes of the pinions I22, will effect rotation of the output shaft I24 relative to the shaft I I0.

Since the gears I01, I08, and IE9 are non-circular, and are preferably elliptical, their peripheral contour will be variably spaced from their axes and peripheral speeds will vary in proportion to the variation in radial length from the center to the periphery of the gear. As a result, rotation of the driving shaft IIIB at a constant preselected angular speed will result in variation in driving speeds of the shafts III! and III from a minimum imparted by the portion of the gear I01 which has the shortest radius to a maximum imparted by the peripheral portion of the gear which has the longest radius. Thus, in the positions shown in Figure 4, the instantaneous speed ing. This cycle of acceleration and deceleration is involved in each revolution of the driving shaft I99 and whenever one driven shaft H or III is being accelerated, the other shaft is being decelerated an exact amount. Since the shaft III is connected to a heavy fiywheel l I 2 it will absorb energy on the acceleration portion of the cycle and this energy is then released as inertia on the deceleration portion of the cycle. In this manner, the input shafts [29 to the cutters will be selectively accelerated and decelerated without requiring peak loads on the drive shaft I96 and without loss of energy by frictional braking.

From the above descriptions, it should therefore be understood that this invention provides a synchronous drive especially adapted for sheet cutters whereby the cutters can be selectively driven at desired mean speed and yet have instantaneous speeds at the time of out which are totally independent of the selected mean speed. It will also be understood that th synchronous drive of this invention is capable of absorbing and releasing energy so that the alternating accelerating and decelerating cycles of operation brought about by differences in the desired mean and instantaneous speeds will be effected Without variation in input speeds and without loss of energy. It will be further understood that the differential units embodied in the synchronous drive afford a very convenient arrangement for varying the relative positions of the driven mechanism with the driving mechanism so that the desired instantaneous speeds will be obtained at the desired points without uncoupling the drives.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention.

I claim as my invention:

A cutter machine comprising superimposed 8 pairs of rotating cutters each defining a'cutting nip, superimposed pairs of draw rolls in advance of the cutters to feed paper ribbons to the cutters, 'a guide roll for directing the paper ribbons to the draw rolls, slitters in advanceof the guide roll for cutting a paper web longitudinally into ribbons of desired width, a pair of web feed rolls in advance of the slitters to feed a web to the slitters, a main drive shaft, belt and pulley connections from the main drive shaft to the web feed rolls, to the draw rolls, and to the slitters, a pair of superimposed speed changer devices each driven from a draw roll drive, superimposed gear trains each including a non-circular center gear driven from a speed changer device and mating first and second conjugate gears on opposite sides of each non-circular center gear, a separate flywheel for each gear train driven by the first conjugate gear of each gear train, a separate differential unit for each gear train driven by the second conjugate gear of each gear train, each differential unit having a first pinion gear driven by the second conjugate gear, rotatable cage-carried gears driven by said first pinion gear and a second pinion gear driven by the cage-carried gears, means coupling each second pinion gear to a pair of said rotating cutters, means for selectively positioning the cage of each differential unit to vary relative positions of the cutters and conjugate gears for obtaining the desired instantaneous speed of the cutters at the point of cut, and means to adjust the speed changers to vary the mean speed of the cutters.

ALONZO A. NEESE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,951,536 Swift Mar. 20, 1934 2,052,461 Greenwood Aug. 25, 1936 2,180,203 Hallden Nov. 1%, 1939 2,184,522 Greenwood Dec. 26, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 781,868 France Mar. 4, 1935 437,029 Great Britain Oct. 23, 1935 

